Cometh the Hour, Cometh the God, Cometh Ragnarok
by Doctorsprettybaby
Summary: Hemsworth wants RAGNAROK let's give it to him.
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE:

"At the beginning of my reign as king of Asgard we faced the threat of universal conquest by an overly ambitious, arrogantly proud and warlike race. They fully intended to plunder the wealth of, and enslave, every one of the nine realms before spreading out to all the other worlds in the cosmos. I, and the warriors of Asgard, defeated them in a long and bloody battle. Afterwards I imprisoned them and sealed them away until their time of punishment should be over."

COMETH THE HOUR,

COMETH THE GOD,

COMETH RAGNARROK

The guards snapped to attention when they heard the tap of the spiked end of Gungnir as the Allfather walked past them in the prison corridor inspecting each cell as he went. Stopping to enter a cell at the end of the hallway, which held only one occupant who was sitting dejectedly in the center of it. The prisoner, dressed in tattered and ragged clothing didn't look up.

"How are we feeling today?" The Allfather coldly smiled, as a bright gold and green light traveled over his body revealing that it was Loki hiding behind an illusion. The younger man's shoulder length black hair was draped over and curled about the wolf haired collar of his gray winter over coat as he stood over the form of what was once the mighty king of Asgard and Loki's adopted father, Odin.

Odin's only reply to his tormentor was to slowly look up at his mad son with an eye nearly devoid of any emotion. The old man knew why his son was here, to siphon more of his life force from him and to torment him with news of Thor and his human consort.

"Why do you not kill me?" Odin groaned lowering his head into his manacled hands. "What more could you take from me?"

"I will take everything that is mine by the lawful right of blood succession as the son of the Queens of TWO realms!"

Odin's head snapped up to gaze in surprise at Loki who sneered back at him.

"Yes, I now know who my birth mother was; Freya, Queen of Alfheim" Loki answered the unspoken question. "It took me quite some time, but, I did eventually find it in the Chronicles of the Kings. Tell me, did your first wife, the lady Bertha, ever forgive you for pandering her twin children, Freyr and Freya, off like cheap trinkets?"

"What I did, I did to bring peace to the realm and to end needless blood shed…"

"What you did was send my mother off, like one of your prized brood bitches, to be covered by a MONSTER!" Loki slammed Gungnir's point into the cell floor with a snarl of rage, screaming back indignantly as he made his skin turn blue and his eyes red while he knelt down in front of his captive, seizing Odin by the throat he forced him to look into his Jotun face and then roared. "Are you satisfied with the outcome of your political machinations old man? Have I lived up to your expectations?" With a low growl Loki moved his glaring, angry face closer to his stepfather's as he continued, "Especially since I am the monster YOU created?"

A greenish light glowed from Loki's right hand as he held onto his adopted father's neck. A light that traveled up the younger man's arm till it covered his whole body and Odin seemed to shrivel even more until Loki released him, throwing him to the floor.

"I haven't killed you outright because you're responsible for the deaths of both my mothers and you fully deserve to rot in this dungeon before you rot in hell."

Slowly Loki's skin changed back to pink and his eyes to blue as he straightened to his full heighth, Gungnir held firmly in his right hand. "You needn't worry about Asgard, or your precious Thor for that matter, as he is more useful to me as a live guardian and protector of all the realms. After all, he did save my life on Svartalfheim. So with your idiotic son at MY side, I will usher in a new Golden Age that will last for generations of MY descendants as they sit the throne of Asgard forever."

Loki turned to leave, and then stopped to glance back at Odin with a sarcastic smile. "All things considered, if you hadn't brought me back as a hostage so long ago, to raise me as your son, that moron you fathered would've destroyed everything you created in a war with Jotunheim, or, any one of the other nine realms" a bright greenish gold light enveloped Loki's body and once again he was transformed into the Allfather. "By saving my life you saved Asgard, and, preserved the throne for me and for that I thank you."

Loki/Odin walked down a hallway through the palace living quarters as guards first bowed their heads then snapped to attention as the Allfather passed them until he came to the late Queen Frigga's rooms.

"I do not wish to be disturbed" Loki/Odin commanded as he unlocked the doors and strode into the room as the guards closed the doors behind him. As he locked the doors, Loki cast a spell of concealment over himself as he shifted back to his own form. Looking about Frigga's antechamber sadness flowed up from his heart as tears began to well up in his eyes. He had ordered his mother's room sealed and forbade anyone but himself to enter it. Loki walked around the circular pond that still bubbled calmly and quietly as he entered her bedroom. All of her personal items: perfume, combs, make-up, and jewelry remained where Frigga had left them on the day she had been murdered by the Kursed.

Tears slowly trickled down his cheeks as he approached Frigga's bed as memories of the times when, as a young child, he would run to this room during severe night storms and she would comfort him, or how she would bring him to her bed to care for him while he was ill. Never would he forget the time when he and the young Lady Amora had been taken hostage by the Norn Queen Karnilla or how savagely she and Frigga fought over him, for him. By sword and dagger he learned just how much his adopted mother loved him that not only was she willing to die for him, but to kill for him as well. With each tear that escaped from his eyes another memory of the only mother he'd ever known would rise up till he could no longer stand under sorrow's crushing weight. His right hand slid down Gungnir as his legs collapsed under him while he wept uncontrollably.

Gasping from the draining emotional release, Loki raised his head and hands as in supplication as he conjured an image of his adopted mother to appear before him looking as she did from the last time he saw her alive. His eyes were red from crying and tears had made tracks down his face as he struggled to force words from his throat.

"I…I avenged you. I destroyed the monster that killed you, and…the monster that allowed you to die, rots in the dungeons…" he lost the ability to speak as his grief overcame him. "I'm sorry, so sorry…I could have saved you…" he pleaded with the image, "I would have saved you if I had been there…because you were right…you are my mother."

Loki reached up to embrace the image of Frigga, but when his hands touched it, it faded from his sight, leaving him alone with his grief. When he managed to bring himself under control, Loki grasped Gungnir and shakily got to his feet. Looking about Frigga's bedroom he wiped the tears from his face with his left hand and then slowly walked back out to the antechamber, to the pond where he stopped to wash his face. The sun was beginning to rise and he must go to the throne room, after all he was the KING of Asgard and there were judgments to make and a kingdom to rule. Which he would rule in HER honor as it was his mother that put him on the throne. It was Frigga who gave him Gungnir, who told him that it was his, by right of blood succession, and that Asgard was his. "I will make you proud of me mother, for I will be a greater king than Odin ever was or Thor ever could be." He composed himself with a deep breath, shifted back to Odin's form and exited Frigga's quarters.

The stars shone brightly in the Asgardian night sky, each one watched over by Heimdall as he stood guard at the portal of the Bifrost. This watch would be a quiet one as the universe seemed to be at peace and even the war like blue skinned Kree appeared to be in between skirmishes with their hereditary enemies, the Skrull. Heimdall watched as a Kree Dreadnought used asteroids for target practice to train raw recruits in the art of warfare. Smaller, one manned craft poured out of the Dreadnought to twist, whirl and spin through the asteroid belt destroying smaller space debris as they flew through it. The guardian of the Bifrost watched as the smaller ships began to circle and surround like a swarm of angry hornets, an asteroid roughly the size of Midgard's moon, before open firing upon it with torpedoes and blasters. Pieces of the huge rock flew in every direction as the Kree recruits whittled it down in size while others blasted its debris into dust. This is when Heimdall noticed a large crevice was beginning to form on the asteroid's surface, one that lengthened as it widened, till the entire rock split apart revealing a huge, massive, horned creature whose long tail whipped about wildly and it had cruel looking talons for hands and feet that emerge from the asteroid's heart.

Alarmed, the gatekeeper sent word of this monster's appearance back to the palace, back to the Allfather, as he watched it effortlessly destroy, not just the single manned ships, but the Kree Dreadnaught as well. The guard raced away as fast as his feet could carry him to the palace gates where breathlessly, he relayed to the guards there of the creature's existence and one entry way guard quickly turned to sprint to the throne room.

The guard found Loki/Odin upon his throne listening to the council of the elderly Vizier as to the matter of Norn raiders attacking several Asgardian villages and farms in the western boarders and how to broach the subject with the proud and strong willed Queen of Nornheim, Karnilla.

"My king" the guard shouted hoarsely, "Heimdall has seen a creature of great strength and savagery…"

"And why would the gatekeeper deem this worthy of my attention?" An annoyed Loki/Odin cut the guard off sharply.

"He says it heads for Asgard my King!" The guard wheezed.

"Send for Thor" Loki/Odin commanded calmly "and have my son Tyr ready a company of Einherjar to meet this beast and destroy it."

"Yes my liege" the guard bowed before his king then quickly exited to carry out his king's order.

"Send for my son Balder, my old friend" Loki/Odin ordered the Vizier. "I will send him to speak with Karnilla about these raiders as he is the only Asgardian who won't get his throat slit the moment he sets foot on Nornheim."

"Yes my king" the Vizier bowed to leave but Loki/Odin stopped him.

"Before you leave, I would crave a boon from you and your daughter, the Lady Amora."

"A favor from me…and my daughter?" The Vizier's bushy eyebrows rose heavenwards as he looked at his Lord with some confusion.

"Yes old friend, I intend on asking you for your daughter's hand in marriage, if she will take this old man for a husband." Loki/Odin continued. "I find myself in the precarious position of being without a Queen and an heir to my throne since Thor has abdicated his right to it, and none of my older sons has the right of succession anymore since their mother divorced me. I need a Queen with courage and cunning who can give me an heir, and, I know of no one else who has had the benefit of your great wisdom."

"I shall send for her at once my Lord" the Vizier bowed again.

"Good, the two of you shall meet me in the hall of records where we can speak privately of these things" Loki/Odin smiled as he dismissed his councilor with a thought of what Amora's face would be like upon hearing of his request.

His mind was all a whirl with the alien strangeness of this massive place that Jane called "a Mall". It seemed to have no end of market places that sold women's clothing, children's clothes, men's clothing, shoes, cooking utensils, jewelry, and things he had no idea what possible use mortals had for them. Dressed in a light golden brown corduroy jacket, a blue t-shirt and jeans, Thor walked alongside Jane, carrying several bags filled with various clothing items she had purchased for him, as she explained that he needed what she called "street clothes" in order to avoid causing a riot by something Darcy called "fan girls" whenever he went anywhere with Jane. The only instance that proved to be an incredible embarrassment was when Jane tried to get him to decide whether he was a "boxer" or "briefs" type of guy.

"Don't you think I have enough street clothes now?" He said with more than a little weariness in his voice, "We've been at this market place nearly the whole day. Is there no place to rest…" his stomach growled at him so that he added "…and eat?"

Jane stopped in her tracks and taking out her cell phone from her tan vinyl purse, she glanced at the time on its screen.

"Well I guess we could call it a day as you should have enough clothes for a week. So let's head for my mom's car and go home for dinner."

He smiled with relief at her as the two of them started for the exit doors as his stomach rumbled again. When they walked out of the mall doors they had to dodge cars, and a bus, to get to where Jane parked her mother's newly repaired and repainted red station wagon. Squeezing the cars alarm button to turn it off, Jane opened the driver's side door and flipped the electronic locks open so the Asgardian Prince could place his bags in the back seat. He had to struggle to get the shopping bags into the car, but when Thor did get them inside, he heard people gasping and exclaiming with disbelief. He turned to see what was causing the commotion and saw people pointing up at the sky and some were using their mobile phones to take photos or videos of dark swirling clouds that were forming above them.

"Thor is that…" Jane barely got the words out of her mouth when the Thunder god became enveloped in bright multicolored light and he, as well as nearly the right side of the car parked next to them and practically the entire left side of her mother's car, just disappeared.

Jane reached into her purse and took her cell phone out to speed dial her mother, who was going to have to call her auto insurance company…again.

"Holy mother of God!" a red haired man with a thick Irish accent, dressed in an old green jumper and blue jeans and carrying a sack from a men's store in his right hand, cried out as he spotted what was left of his vehicle. "What happened to me car?"

Both Thor and Heimdall had to dodge auto wreckage when the son of Odin landed on the Bifrost platform, "Why have I been taken from Midgard?"

"The Allfather has summoned you to deal with a creature that destroyed a Kree dreadnaught and now approaches Asgard" Heimdall replied. "He awaits you in the throne room."

"What kind of creature?" Thor inquired of the gatekeeper.

"Unknown" Heimdall replied, "But its savagery is horrifying, and, it is without pity."

A thrall from the palace stables stood outside the Bifrost with a chestnut gelding for the Thunder god, to hasten his way to the Allfather. As Thor strode to his mount, he realized he'd have to change clothes and when his foot reached the left stirrup he remembered that Mjolnir was still on Midgard, in Jane's bedroom, at her mother's house. With a sigh Thor mounted his steed and turned it to gallop towards the palace while holding his right hand out to summon Mjolnir.

Nanna was in near hysterics after the servant of the Vizier informed Balder that Odin had summoned his third oldest son from his first wife, the Lady Bertha, to the throne room as he was going to be sent to Nornheim to speak with Queen Karnilla. Try as he might, the blond wavy haired man could not settle his wife down no matter how many times he protested that he did love her truly.

"So you claim, but to that witch you run whenever she calls" Nana screamed with her Vanir heart breaking, "I hear you on those nights, when you speak her name in your sleep, and the things you say to her."

Baldur's eyes cast themselves downward to the floor as his beloved wife was right. Karnilla often came to him in his night dreams and he felt helpless to resist her, yet he had, so far, because his love for Nana was strong despite his wife's gnawing doubts.

"I must answer the call of the Allfather my love" he looked her in the eye and sighed resignedly "I cannot disobey the order of my father, the king, but, I will return before the sun sets in the sky."

He went to embrace his weeping wife but she turned her back on him and wordlessly walked into their bedroom with her head in her hands. Slowly Balder turned and walked out of his chambers as there was nothing left to say, nothing that would ease Nanna's pain or reassurance of his faithfulness.

When he was at S.H.I.E.L.D., before the incident with Loki and the Chitari and before the whole Hydra mess, Dr. Erik Selvig had been given computer codes to gain access to the Hubble telescope and he was sitting at the outdoor roof top patio table with his lap top scrolling through the latest images of a large nebula that intertwined through several star systems. NASA had yet to name the nebula but Selvig knew he was looking at a branch of Yggdrasil, the tree of the worlds. Darcy popped her head out of the patio door and asked if he wanted any tea? She was making tea, or rather her Ian her intern, was making tea and would he want some of those digestive cookie things? She heard a grunt from him which she took for a yes and popped back into the kitchen to boss her intern around.

No sooner had Darcy shut the door when Mew mah went flying through the wall of Jane's bedroom, made a ninety degree turn to the left, before it could hit her while she shrieked in fear, to exit through the patio window, narrowly missing Selvig while showering him with broken glass, as the Uru hammer made another ninety degree turn, this time straight up, to quickly disappear in the afternoon skies of London.

When Thor reined in his horse at the palace entrance he was greeted by his older half-brother Tyr leading a large group of men out the doors. "Greetings brother, where are you and your men headed?"

"The Allfather has ordered us to slay this beast before it reaches Asgard. I lead a company of men to a world called N'as-Keroth where Heimdall believes it will land next."

"Land, does the creature fly some sort of craft?" Thor asked his face mirrored his bafflement.

"No" Tyr replied hastily. "It leaps from one world to another using Yggdrasil to speed its way."

"Leaps?" Thor sputtered with amazement as he dismounted and handed the reins over to a collared thrall.

"Yes leaps, and with incredible strength" Tyr voiced his urgency as he started to head for the Bifrost, "and it leaves death and destruction wherever it lands."

Thor took only a moment to watch his brother's departure then he headed for the throne room. He would change into battle garb after speaking with his father.

When Thor reached the throne room he saw his father speaking to a worried looking young man with wavy light blond hair that was longer than it looked. Dressed in chain mail and his battle armor and in his familiar ermine furred cape, Balder, called the brave by many, was being exhorted by Odin to do his duty "…for the good of Asgard" with a hand of comfort and trust upon the Thunder god's half –brother's shoulder.

"Now go my son, and return quickly with Karnilla's answer."

"Yes Allfather" Balder saluted Loki/Odin with his arm across his chest as he turned to leave but Thor could see that Balder was not happy about this assignment and for good reason. His wife, Nanna, would not be overly enthused about her husband being sent to Nornheim. It was well known the Queen of Nornheim was a powerful witch and her twin passions were her hatred of Odin and her raging desire for Balder. Many felt that Karnilla had placed a powerful love spell upon him, a spell so great that not even the Allfather could break it, and, it would one day prove to be Baldur's destruction.

"Is this my son that approaches my throne?" Loki/Odin looked on his brother with curiosity as he spoke wild mild sarcasm.

"Yes father, I was on Midgard when Heimdall brought me back" he apologized for his appearance "and I thought it better to see you first, to find out the nature of this threat before changing for battle."

"The nature of this threat before us is not completely known" Loki/Odin replied. "I wish you and the Warriors Three to join Tyr, and, if this creature proves to be a deadly threat to the realm, then slay it."

"Yes father" Thor's right hand formed a fist and he saluted Loki/Odin with his arm across his chest as he bowed his head and backed up and turned away to head for his quarters to change.

"My son!" Loki/Odin called out to him and the Thunder god halted and half turned to face his father, "Be careful, as I do not wish to lose another son."

"I will father" Thor answered back as he then walked out of the throne room.

Silently Loki hoped in his heart that his brother would return safely as, other than Frigga and Balder, Thor was the only one who truly seemed to have cared about him in all of Asgard. Everyone else thought Loki to be a clown to be ignored, a fool to be humiliated, or a threat to be destroyed.

With the help of a thrall, Thor quickly changed into battle armor while another thrall, the child of the first servant, held his winged helmet. Donning his helmet, Thor sent the elder thrall to inform his friends to meet him at the Bifrost as quickly as they could and to the child, he ordered him to go to the stables and have them ready a fresh horse for him and to bring it to the palace entrance. Bowing low both thralls left Thor's quarters on their respective errands as their Prince wondered silently if Mjolnir would arrive in time or would he have to wait for it as he exited his chambers.

When Thor reached the outer doors of the main entrance to the palace he heard the familiar high pitched, metallic hum of Mjolnir as it rushed towards him. Extending his right hand over his head, the son of Odin caught hold of his prized war hammer as it crackled with electricity. Now let this beast beware as the Uru hammer was once more in his grasp. His favorite white stallion was led up to him as he slipped Mjolnir's handle into a leather loop on his belt and gathering up the reins he mounted his horse and rode off towards the Rainbow Bridge and the Bifrost.

Sif was the last one to join Thor at the Bifrost and Heimdall explained to her and the Warriors Three about the creature. "It has not yet landed on N'as-Keroth and I will set you down approximately where it will land" Heimdall paused and with a hard gaze continued, "but be warned, this beast shows absolutely no mercy to its victims."

"If it shows no mercy" Thor replied, "it shall receive none."

With that said Heimdall shoved down on his sword and activated the Bifrost as lightning flashed up to strike the ceiling and walls of the inner dome. The dome began to spin as the Bifrost portal began to rotate into place and when it locked onto N'as-Keroth the multicolored light sucked them through it and fired all the warriors towards the planet.

They landed on a crowded street in what seemed to be a major city with tall, slender built dog-like inhabitants who scattered in shock, fear and surprise at the arrival of the Asgardians. Females clutched their young to themselves and fled from the area as the males formed in groups snarling at the strange new arrivals.

"We are of Asgard" Thor proclaimed to the people around him, to try to reassure them that they meant them no harm, "we have come to halt the advancement of a heartless creature before it can do further damage."

Before Thor could explain further a fireball appeared in the sky and streaking downwards crashed not far from where they had landed. The force of the crash knocked everyone off their feet and damaged the surrounding buildings which cracked, crumbled and split apart dropping debris all around burying many people.

"Tyr, you and the Einherjar try to help these people. We will go to the crash site." Signaling the others to follow him, Thor sprinted off.

What they found was a kilometer wide crater that seemed to be a mile deep that billowed smoke and dust and the bottom glowed like a miniature red sun. The heat that radiated from the bottom made the Asgardians recoil back.

"Can you see anything?" Volstagg shouted over the din of the screams of frightened, wounded and mourning natives.

"No!" Fandral yelled back.

"We must get these people back" Sif called out as she helped an elderly dog-like man to his feet and turned him over to a younger male. Thor and Volstagg were removing heavy debris that had fallen on a group of people as the Einherjar rejoined them to help, while Hogun and Fandral cleared many more of them away from the crater site when a loud, deep growl could be heard to come from out of the crater.

A dull crunching thud preceded severe ground tremors that made it difficult to stand and the sounds became louder while the tremors worsened. The Asgardians backed away from the crater as a monstrous shape emerged.

It rose up to its full height and glared down at the Asgardians and then roared at them. "Asgardians, how good of you to save me the trouble of having to wait till I reach Asgard before killing you."

"Any dying here monster will be done by you" Thor replied as he withdrew Mjolnir from his belt as his friends and the Einherjar prepared for the creature to strike.

"Fools, Mangog has no time for the likes of you!" leaning down the monster ripped up a huge section of pavement, hoisted it above its head and with no effort at all, flung it at the assembled Asgardians.

Heimdall put him and his bay stallion down a kilometer east of Karnilla's castle and Baldur sighed in trepidation when his eyes set on it. Any moment now the area would be crawling with brutish Norn warriors and he drew his sword as he cued his horse to move forward towards the castle. He had not guessed wrong as a company of Norns bore down upon him with weapons at the ready howling at the top of their lungs. With a leg cue Baldur made his horse rise up on its hind legs and strike out at the Norns with its front hooves who then backed away as they moved to surround him.

"I am Baldur of Asgard you knaves" with another leg cue he made his steed hop on its hind legs while still in a rearing position and the Norns scattered in order to avoid the thrashing fore hooves, "the likes of you could never defeat this son of Odin and long has it been since my blade has drunk Norn blood."

A handful of Norn spearmen attempted to unhorse Baldur but his blade sliced through the wooden shafts of their spears and he cued his horse, which jumped straight up and lashed out with both fore and hind legs which caught some of them off guard and knocked them to the ground, two of them never to rise again. This enraged the remaining Norns who screamed like animals and they charged him with no care as to how skillfully Baldur used both sword and his steed to injure or kill them until a deep booming voice cried "HALT YOU FOOLS!"

All stopped and turned to face a giant of a Norn, a commander of ten legions, with a long, horizontal and jagged scar upon his savage face. "Kill this Asgardian and our Queen will take great delight in personally torturing you to a long, slow and agonizing death."

"I see you remember me, though it has been an age since I was here last Balthar" Baldur gave a grim half smile as he remembered striking the Norn while trying to save young Loki and Amora from him. "That pleases me as I have not forgotten you, or the promise we made back then, but there is a greater concern for you to dwell on as our two realms may be in danger of open warfare unless I can confer with her majesty Karnilla."

"I would welcome open warfare with Asgard, if only to cleave you in two with my axe" the Norn Commander snarled at him, "even if it meant a death more horrid than any devised by Hela herself at the hands of my Queen, but for now, you will follow me."

The lesser Norn warriors made way for Baldur as he kicked his horse to follow the Legion Commander to the castle of their Queen.

Loki/Odin left the throne room early as he'd grown weary of the mewling gad-a-bouts that never seemed to get enough of his attention for insipid and petty ambitions or desires. Thankfully he'd only have to sit the throne three days each week to hear cases and make judgments on their near constant bleatings. The raiders on their western boarders, whether they were Norns or not, puzzled him and he made his way to the hall of records in the great library of Asgard which contained all the Chronicles of not only the Kings of Asgard, but of its many heroes as well as the histories of all nine realms. Loki/Odin ordered books about and records of the western border villages and towns with their surrounding farmlands to be brought to him and the keepers of the library bowed and quickly went looking for the requested material. Loki/Odin commanded a very large and long mahogany table to be cleared off and to bring wine with three glasses as thralls quickly started gathering up the books scattered upon it in obedience to his directive.

When the last unwanted book was taken off the table, Loki/Odin sat down in a tall backed mahogany chair. The chair's arm rests were arms of dragons and each chair leg ended in a dragon's claw. The back of the chair was fashioned into two carved dragons in knot work fashion whose snarling heads butted up against each other. The librarians brought him three books that dealt with the history of the settlements along the western border and taking the first book brought to him Loki/Odin began to scan through the pages to find, hopefully, just what these raiders wanted. These raiders were a puzzlement to him as they killed everyone who could not out run them, so they weren't coming for slaves. They butchered and left the carcasses of every beast that couldn't be evacuated, and burned all the crops so they came not for food. They put everything else to the torch so they came not for booty and they left just as fast as they came, picking up whatever dead among them, so they came not to invade and conquer. Why, why, what was there about these villages and farms that they bothered to go through so much trouble for. There had to be a logical reason, but he could not see it and that proved to be a great irritant to him.

Maps of the western boarders were brought to him as the Vizier and the Lady Amora entered the Hall of Records and he gasped inwardly, upon spying Amora, as her beauty never failed to invoke a sense of awe in him. If it were not for the incident on Nornheim, that brought them together in the first place, would she even have bothered with the ignored Loki, hidden in the shadow of his brother? Dressed in a green gown that closely formed around her body and draped with a gold and green cape that was pinned to her right shoulder and left hip with two gold brooches. Her shining golden hair was graced by a golden tiara of metallic flames that melted into twisted knot work which disappeared into her hair above her ears. Oh yes indeed, Amora would make an excellent Queen for him he thought as he barely stopped himself from smiling as he watched her and her father walk towards his table.

"My King" Amora curtsied before him as her father bowed his head before Loki/Odin "my father says you have a proposition you'd like to ask me."

"More of a proposal you might say" Loki/Odin stood up from his chair and moved around the table, while a thrall brought in a tray with a pitcher of wine and three crystal glasses and set them down on the table across from the chair Loki/Odin had just risen from, to take Amora's hand in his, "a proposal of marriage my dear if both you and your father are agreeable to it."

Releasing her hand and turning about Loki/Odin reached for the pitcher and filled all three glasses with blood-red wine, one of which he handed to the Vizier and one of which he slyly dropped a small amount of red powder from a hidden compartment in the large gold ring he wore and hoped Amora didn't see him twist it around his finger to his palm. This glass he gave to Amora.

"Marriage my Lord…I don't know what to say."

"I would hope Yes would be your answer, but take your time to think upon this my Lady and when you are certain, then give me your answer" Loki/Odin raised his glass to his chief subjects and drank, smiling inwardly as Amora drank her wine and then he turned to the Vizier. "Now my Lord Vizier we have much to go through to ferret out the true reason for these raids on our western boarders."

"I take my leave father" Amora gently kissed her father's hairy cheek and smiled sweetly at him as she set her empty glass on the table, "so do not be overly long with work today as I shall be very wroth with you if you do."

As she left the two of them Loki pondered over the only difference between himself and the Lady Amora, she adored her father, even doted upon him, while he himself despised Odin and for good reason. All the misery of his young life could be laid at Odin's feet; perhaps the old bastard should have left him on Jotunheim to die.

Asgardians scattered in all directions to avoid the hurled section of pavement the beast threw at them but a handful of Einherjar were not so fortunate to avoid it and were buried under it. With a roar Thor held Mjolnir skyward and a bolt of lightning struck the hammer which he then directed towards Mangog and to Thor's amazement it had no effect on the creature. Tyr ordered his archers to let loose their arrows at the beast but their shafts bounced off its hide serving to only enrage it more.

With a deafening bellow the monster strode through the Asgardians as if they were wheat and both its fists and its tail a reaper's scythe. Sword, spear, arrow none had any effect on the beast, and not even blows from Mjolnir seem to damage it. Mangog caught Thor a devastating blow with his tail which sent the son of Odin flying into a building nearly a quarter of a mile away which then collapsed upon the Thunder god burying him.

"Thor!" Sif screamed as she ran to the Thunder god. So terrified that he might be slain she paid no heed to the monster that now reached for her. Catching the Lady Sif unawares with his clawed hand the brute squeezed until the sickening sound of bones cracking and her shriek of pain made him toss her away like so much rubbish.

"Sif!" Fandral cried out as he slashed at the creature's leg with his cutlass as he ducked under its fist to reach his fallen companion and cradle her head in his arms. Mercifully she was unconscious as he scooped her up in his arms to move her away from the battle as he dodged the fiend's fists and tail. A metallic hum went sailing over his blond head as Mjolnir struck the beast in the face and Fandral laughed as the son of Odin rejoined the fight.

"I will waste no more time on you insects, to Asgard I go, to destroy it and take my revenge against Odin for imprisoning me nearly four millennium ago" and with that said Mangog gathered himself together and leaped into the air to disappear from their sights.

"Sif, how is she?" enquired the bloodied and worried Thunder god of Fandral.

"Unconscious, but I do not know the full extent of her injuries. We must get her to the healing room and quickly."

"Tyr as well" Volstagg spoke up as he and Hogun half carried the eldest son of Odin between themselves to where their companions stood.

"What of the company of men that came with us?" Thor asked of his elder brother.

"That I cannot say, but many are dead I fear and whomever is yet still alive may be buried under much rubble" Tyr grimaced in pain. "There will have to be healers sent here to find them and bring them back home."

Thor shook his head in ascent and sighed as he looked skyward and shouted, "Heimdall!"

No sooner was his name spoken than a swirl of clouds appeared over the Asgardians and a light of many colors snatched them upwards towards home.

"The history of the western boarder starts with your Grandfather Buri and the first colonists of Asgard" the Vizier pointed out in the first volume concerning the mountainous west. "Legend has it that Buri fought a monstrous dragon that could not be killed so instead he transformed it into stone and created the mountain range known…"

"…As the Dragon's back." Loki/Odin finished for the older man as he used his hand to bring up a three dimensional image of the mountain range from the largest of the maps that were laid before him in order to study it more closely. He remembered Frigga telling him the story as a child.

"Yes and the colonists called these three ridges which created these three valleys the claws of the dragon. The water from melting snow runs down each of these ridges which created the fjord that surrounds the northern most valley; the rivers and springs that intersect through the middle valley and feeds the large lake which sits in the midst of the third valley."

"Have there been any reports of these raiders befouling the waters?" Loki/Odin asked as he maneuvered the map with a wave of his right hand to view another portion of the western border.

"No my liege"

"Odd" he scowled, "they destroy everything else but not the water. Why, what makes the water so valuable that it is the only thing spared?"

It was at this moment that an Einherjar guard burst into the hall of records and ran to his king "My King, forgive me, but Thor and Tyr have returned from N'as-Keroth!"

"Why have they not come to report to me themselves?" Loki/Odin growled at this interruption.

"They are in the room of healing my Lord for Tyr is gravely injured…"

Loki/Odin wasted no time in leaving the hall as he hurried to the healing room to see for himself what Tyr's condition was, and Thor's as well.


	2. Chapter 2

2

Upon reaching the stairs leading to the colossal entrance doors of Karnilla's castle Balder dismounted from his bay stallion and followed the lumbering Balthar up the stone stairs and through the great metal covered doors that were shut behind him with a dull thud. The Asgardian Prince ignored the scowls and growls of the Norn guards as he knew they wouldn't dare lift a finger against him for he was under their Queen's protection and certainly not while he was being escorted to Karnilla's throne room by their high commander.

When they entered the throne room the air was thick with incense and Karnilla's throne of ivory (which was said to be made up of the teeth of all her enemies) was surrounded by exotic flowers and crawling ivy-like plants, which were planted in a sunken section of the floor, that grew wrapped around two marble pillars on either side of her throne that reached to the far flung ceiling. She, herself sat upon it in a proud and haughty manner, as she cast her intense gaze onto Balder.

"Welcome to Nornheim my Lord" she smiled seductively at the Asgardian warrior as he strode towards her. "You may leave" she spoke to Balthar as she rose up from her throne to stand as regal as any Asgardian noblewoman but dressed as lurid as any barbarian wench. "All of you, leave us, I have nothing to fear from this Aesir."

Despite misgivings Balthar and the throne room guards did as their Queen commanded and Karnilla was alone with Balder. Under the flowing red over coat embroidered in knot work fashion were monsters from Nornheim legends, with the white fur of a Norn spider-ape gracing the neck and cuffs of both sleeves, was covering what barely could be called a gown. Blood red it was, and attached to the right side of a gold neck ring was only a strip that barely covered her generous breasts. This strip attached itself to another gold ring at her left hip before wrapping itself around her waist to her right before connecting to the hip ring again. Her ebony hair had been pulled into a large plait that ran upon the top and back of her head and braided into it were the two long, thin u-shaped bars that held her headdress crown of shining gold that framed her face. The head-plate was shaped like the horns of a Norn bull with the stylized face of a spider-ape made of a large ruby in its center and framing her face were the gold plated teeth of a Norn devil worm also bejeweled with rubies. Upon her feet were red leather sandals with straps that wrapped about her legs to her knees.

"What do I owe for this comely sight before me; honors, riches, or pleasures unimaginable?"

"Truth, oh Queen" Balder inhaled deeply and continued "as to whether you wish to keep the tenuous peace that exists between our realms or unleash the ravenous hounds of war?"

In his haste to get to the room of healing he nearly forgot that he was play-acting as an old man and Loki stopped running through the corridors of the palace to pretend to gasp for breath explaining to several Einherjar guards, who'd came to his assistance, that he was fine just not as young as he once was. Only his concern for the welfare of his sons made him careless of his own as he dismissed the guards to their regular duties. At a pace more suited to an elderly man Loki continued to the room of healing.

As Loki/Odin entered the healing room he saw Tyr standing between Thor and Volstagg while an unconscious Lady Sif lay on the bed of the soul forge, with a worried and fearful Fandral standing to Sif's right with a grim faced Hogun behind him, and he halted in his tracks as he saw the extent of her internal injuries through the orange energy form that hovered above her. He caught his breath, eye wide with terrible awe, as at one time in his life he'd actually had feelings for Sif, feelings which had died cruelly because of her imbecilic hero worship of his brother Thor, making him invisible.

"What happened?" Loki/Odin demanded of his sons.

"We could not stop this beast" Tyr wheezed as his chest pained him greatly, "He called himself Mangog and has sworn to destroy all of Asgard…" the oldest Odinson grimaced in pain.

"Our weapons were useless father" Thor spoke though a face that was badly bloodied and bruised. "Not even Mjolnir could do it harm."

"What of the company of warriors that accompanied you? Where are they?" The gravity of what his brothers had just told him was beginning to sour in Loki's stomach.

"Either dead or badly wounded Allfather" Volstagg reported. "We would need healers and at least three companies of Einherjar to go to N'as-Keroth to bring them back home."

"Go find my son Ull" Loki/Odin spoke after a moment's hesitation to a guard standing in the doorway. "Have him take a company of archers and two companies of Einherjar, as well as however many Healers that can be spared, to find them and bring them back as soon as possible."

The guard bowed his head, turned heel and ran to perform his King's command.

"The Lady Sif will be taken back to her chambers to complete her recovery when they are finished with her here" Loki/Odin turned back to his sons and sighed heavily, "And you my sons, after you have been healed of your wounds, must find where next this beast will land and stop it there…while I see to our defenses here…that we will be ready for it in the event you cannot slay it."

Loki was about to leave the healing room when he saw the remorseful look upon Thor's face as he held up his older brother, remorse and hopelessness? That did not seem right, not for Thor, oh no not for him. Not the one who led them all "…into the most glorious of battles" who was covered with shining accolades and honors, who singlehandedly saved all the nine realms from Malekith and the Dark Elves. This was not like him at all.

"Thor, walk with me my son" Loki/Odin spoke as he turned to exit the healing room, "For I see there is something that weighs heavily upon your mind and I would hear you out."

"Yes father" Thor slipped Tyr's arm from off his shoulder and left with his father.

"What bothers you my son for something plainly colors the expression on your face."

"It's just a foolish, childish wish father and regret" Thor confided.

"Regret, of what my son?" Loki/Odin softly goaded his brother to tell him more.

"That Loki isn't here" Thor replied.

"Loki?"

"Yes father, despite his treacherous nature, Loki would have the cunning and the wit to defeat this creature. He would've figured out a way to stop it, of that I am almost certain of."

"What do I hear from the savior of Midgard, to the one who restored order across the Nine Realms after the destruction of the Bifrost…?"

"The truth father, you once called me a vain, cruel, greedy boy and you were right to do so, for I was and it was Loki who suffered the most for it" Thor stopped and focused his eyes on the floor, too ashamed of himself to look at his father. "I bullied him and my friends into going to Jotunheim, not to find the truth, but I was greedy to win more glory to myself and it did not matter to me who I put into jeopardy or who nearly got killed. It is because of me that Loki is dead; it is because of me he became what he was, his madness and his rage can be laid at my feet for I am to blame."

Loki/Odin stood silently in amazement that he should hear such words coming from the god of Thunder and so honestly spoken. He would have to visit this mortal paramour of his brother if only to find out just what it was that she did to change him so drastically. Was this truly his oafish, glory whoring, idiot brother that he grew up with? Truly it seemed, Thor had matured in the last year or so and could it be that Loki finally had a brother worth admiring?

"Go back to the healing room my son" Loki/Odin laid his left hand on Thor's shoulder in encouragement, "we will deal with this monster first and talk more of this later." With that Loki/Odin turned away from Thor so that the tears that began to stream down his cheeks wouldn't be seen by his brother.

"The only way MY kingdom would seek war with Odin would be if your father were senile enough to dare attack me" Karnilla backed away from Balder, her face changed into a haughty scowl as did her demeanor towards Balder. "What makes the Allfather think that I would be the first to break our truce, the peace treaty itself was written with the blood from my dead husband and beloved sons as well as a multitude of my slain warriors?"

"Along with a multitude of slain Asgardian warriors as well, oh Queen" Balder reminded her as he continued. "Our western boarders are being attacked by Norn raiders who kill and destroy everyone and everything in their path and this we have from witnesses who escaped being butchered."

"There are no rogue elements among my warriors, they are loyal to me" Karnilla walked back to her throne and sat down, "they know my power, and they have enough wisdom to fear me. For there is nowhere in my realm where my eyes and ears cannot see, or hear, or my spells reach."

"Then I take my leave with your word of honor to the Allfather" Balder bowed his head to her and turned to exit her throne room.

"Halt! I gave you no permission to leave my presence Asgardian. Do not presume that because I know nothing of these raids you speak of that I am finished with you."

Balder found himself unable to move, not even his eyes as he stared straight ahead, while he heard the foot falls of Karnilla's sandaled feet approach him. He felt the touch of her hand as it was first laid upon his right shoulder and as it glided gently down to his chest as she slowly prowled around him, not unlike a lioness circling her prey. She took his right hand in hers and he felt himself moving, but not by his own will, as she led him out from the throne room and to her personal quarters. She walked him over to her bed, sprinkled with scented water and various flower petals and had him sit down. In a slow sensuous fashion she removed the over coat from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor while a red and gold light dissolved her gown. With ease she pushed him backwards so that he lay upon his back as his armor and clothes disappeared as his body was covered by the same red and gold light, "The day is young and I desire your love my Lord Balder and Karnilla will have it, and have it all."

Thor and the Warriors Three did not spend much time in the healing room after their treatments, though Tyr's wounds were considered too severe for him to leave with them so he had wished them success against Mangog, and a somber Heimdall explained that the monster was headed for an uninhabited planet while he prepared to activate the Bifrost.

"Are you the only ones going?" Heimdall quizzed Thor as he saw there would be no Einherjar with them this time.

"Yes" Thor replied, "I will risk no more lives as the beast slaughtered the elite of Tyr's palace guard and badly wounded my brother. We four alone will stop this beast or die in the trying."

Which, Heimdall thought with a sigh, is what will probably happen as he slammed his sword into the Bifrost control and sent them to their destination.

The place where they landed was an empty landscape with rocky soil and barren rocks that jutted up from the ground, some of which were quite large in size and towered over the Asgardians as they scanned the red sky for any sign of their quarry. Three suns blazed in the sky which made for very long and almost intolerable hot days and dressed in armor and clothing more suited for the colder Asgard Thor and his three friends began to feel the oppressive heat immediately.

"There" Hogun the Grim pointed towards planetary south east, "the beast comes!"

They all turned to see the fire ball that was Mangog streaking towards the planet and Thor realized that the monster was going to land right where they stood.

"All of you link arms" as he began to twirl his hammer and reached out to Fandral who took hold of the Thunder god's arm just as Thor let loose of Mjolnir and catching its strap the Uru hammer flew the Asgardians away to a safe distance before the monstrous fireball hit the ground. Once again Mangog climbed out of a deep and extremely wide crater to find the son of Odin ready to do battle and he roared at them as he attacked.

With mace, sword and axe the Warriors Three charged to meet the fiend head on as Thor unleased a lightning bolt that struck Mangog full in the face, temporarily blinding the creature. Enraged, Mangog screamed as he covered his eyes while he felt something land upon his back. Volstagg had managed to avoid both clawed feet and the demon's tail as he hurled himself upon its back and with a bellow he swung his great battle axe as hard as he could, his intention was to bury it into the beast's spine but instead he discovered himself flying backwards as his axe just bounced off the monster's flesh.

This hell spawn had to have a weakness, it had to Thor thought as he threw his hammer to strike Mangog in the face. Once again he silently wished Loki were still alive, his brother's cunning was sorely missed at this moment. Nothing seemed to be able to pierce its hide; it shrugged off all of Mjolnir's blows, and even the lightning he called forth was useless against it, but they had to fight on, had to hope that they could defeat it before it could reach Asgard.

"Aesir maggots" Mangog roared as he clenched his clawed fists together and struck the ground with such force that all four Asgardians were knocked off their feet and onto their backsides. Quickly they all scrambled to their feet and ran in all directions to avoid being pulverized by the brute's massive fists or crushed by his serpentine tail.

With a bellowing growl Mangog leaped into the air to disappear in the sky leaving the weary Asgardians behind who were now glancing at each other with growing terror in their eyes as thoughts of what this creature threatened to do once it reached Asgard ran through their minds.

"Heimdall" Thor shouted to the sky and once again Bifrost brought its travelers home.

When they appeared at the Bifrost Thor ordered them to go the healing room and then to the Allfather, "Tell father that he must evacuate the city, send the women and children to the northern mountains and prepare Asgard's defenses against this beast for I don't believe that I will be able to stop it where it lands next."

"No" Hogun spoke up; "we will not let you take on this beast alone. We will go with you."

"Asgard needs you more" the Thunder god said firmly as he placed his hand on Hogun's shoulder, "you must defend her and our people should I fail."

Thor embraced his comrades then walked to stand in front of the portal, turning with a grin of resignation at his friends Thor gazed at them, "See you in Valhalla" as he was swept away by the Bifrost.

Balder stood confused and naked in a shadowy place full of mist as he heard Karnilla's seductive voice swirl around him like smoke. Here in this place of shadows he found that he could move but he was uncertain of what would lay before him so he stayed where he stood. Where was this place as he knew he still lay upon the Norn Queen's bed and where was Karnilla?

"Stay with me and I will make you my king and together we will rule this realm, only renounce your allegiance to Odin and swear eternal loyalty to Karnilla."

Suddenly she was there in front of him so breathtaking in her beauty and she reached for him with her hands which he caught in his own and with a strength that was crumbling said, "I am a prince and warrior of Asgard woman I will not suffer to be your plaything."

"Suffer, suffer, fool you know nothing of the suffering you will feel if you spurn me" Karnilla growled at him, "I offer you a throne and a lifetime of nightly pleasures as you hold my heart" she pressed her body against his, "and all the passion that it contains. What could Asgard and that wretched cow you married give you that Karnilla could not give a thousand times over?"

With what strength remained to his will Balder pushed her back, "I am also a man of honor Karnilla; a man who honors the vows he makes, I vowed to love and cherish my Nanna when we wed and I hold to that honor, for what love could there be between us if that love were forced?"

In that very second he saw only mist and smoke in his hands as Karnilla vanished from his sight and he was alone and he wondered if he were trapped in this shadow realm and if this was how she would make him suffer when, faintly, he heard a woman scream in rage and the sound of glass shattering and wood splintering. Balder gasped as he sat up on the edge of Karnilla's bed as it had felt as if he'd fallen from a great height and landed on hard ground. He was fully dressed and armored and as he looked around it seemed like the wind of a mighty gale had blown through her bed chamber as there was glass everywhere on the floor and the furniture shattered beyond repair. Karnilla stood several feet away from him, clothed once more and wearing the red over robe as she stared at him coldly.

"You have my permission to leave Asgardian and tell the Allfather that these raids are not of my doing, nor of any of my warriors" she turned and strode back out to her throne room and stood before her throne.

Balder rose from her bed and with glass crunching under his booted feet exited the bed chamber. Bowing to her majesty he turned to leave and as he did so he heard the clap of her hands and the doors to the throne room was opened by guards and Balthar whirled about to sneer at him.

"Escort him outside the fortress and see to it that he is unharmed as this Aesir prince must return home."

"Yes my Queen, as you command, so shall it be done" Balthar bowed before her and then growled at Balder to follow him as they left her presence.

In keeping with Amora's wishes Loki/Odin did not keep the Vizier over long in the library and after taking some maps of the western region he left to go to Odin's quarters. He ordered Odin's personal thralls to fetch him food and wine while he laid the maps on the king's private feasting table, reserved for private family meals and special guests and was studying them when the food and wine was brought in. After the thralls set their burdens down Loki/Odin ordered them to leave as he wished to dine alone and unless it was an emergency he was not to be disturbed. Leaving off of the maps Loki cast a spell of concealment over Odin's quarters and sat down to eat. Taking his choice of fresh fruit and vegetables, which he dropped onto the silver platter before him, he picked up a carving knife and cut a thick leg off a roasted Gamoth Field bird that was roughly the size of a five month old piglet. Slicing off strips of flesh from the leg with the knife he began to eat and as he poured wine into his silver cup a trace of a smile touched his face.

"If you wish to sneak up on me my dear" he took a sip of his wine, "you shouldn't wear so much perfume as it enters the room before you."

"How did you do it?" Amora appeared before him as her spell of concealment vanished. "Thor said you died in his arms after being skewered by the Kursed."

"He saw only what I wanted him to see" Loki shifted back to his real form and with a cunning smile explained further, "I reanimated one of the Dark Elves that I killed and cloaked it to look like me as I hid myself with another spell. I was masterful in my puppeteering skills so the only thing that monster skewered was a corpse. In one fell swoop I avenged my mother's death, gained my freedom from the dungeons and I've taken my rightful place on the throne."

"But where is Odin, is he dead?" Amora questioned him as she walked over to his chair and sat down on his lap slipping her right hand behind his neck to rest on his shoulder.

"No, he rots in the dungeons where the bastard belongs before I send him to Hela, who will no doubt greet him with open arms" he wrapped his left arm around her waist while he traced a knot work pattern from her lower stomach to just about her breasts with his right hand when she took hold of it with her left hand and stopped its ascent. "Not feeling playful my Lady, you aren't still married to Lord Erlick are you?"

"Gads no" she recoiled in mild disgust, "I discovered that, apparently I'm too old for him, as I caught him debasing some poor girl child of a thrall." Amora laced her fingers into Loki's and gave a small laugh, "Which is why I cursed him with a spell of impotence before I left him which should bring relief to parents everywhere."

"Once again" Loki laughed spiritedly, "you give me another reason to love you so my dear and to think that you would be perfect as my Queen."

"What makes you think that the people of Asgard would embrace a Queen so oft married and with as many lovers as I've had? Not to mention marrying a man as "old" as you."

Loki chuckled and grinned up at her, "My dear, you are the daughter of Odin's most high councilor and from the time you could walk and talk you've boldly followed your father into Odin's court and sat at his feet, hopefully absorbing much of his wisdom, and were you not fostered by Queen Frigga? Did not my mother teach you to be as stately as a Queen as well as magic?"

"Do you miss her as much as I do?" Amora questioned him.

"I will always mourn for her" his expression turned to a pained sorrow, "as she was the one who placed me on the throne knowing that I, not Thor, was Asgard's true king."

Loki became silent, retreating into himself as Amora began gently stroking his hair with her right hand and then she sat upright losing his hand from hers and setting her hands, palms up, in front of her she waved them back and forth until a crystal orb set upon a mahogany pillar base appeared between them.

"What's this?"

"A little something to break you from your melancholy" she replied as she handed him the orb.

"A white stag" he exclaimed as he gazed into the orb and watched, as if it were alive and held captive in the crystal, the stag snorted and pawed the earth with his front hoof all the while looking far into the distance as if looking for does to mate with or fools attempting to capture it to force it to grant their wishes.

"Have you forgotten what day this is? Have you forgotten what happen to the two of us all those years ago?"

"Forgive me my dear, but with all that has happened…well much has been on my mind since Svartalfheim, but no, I could never forget that day or what we went through." Loki, with his right hand took a hold of Amora's left hand, brought it to his lips and gently kissed it.

"Karnilla was going to kill us both as revenge for the deaths of her sons" Amora pondered, "why do you think she so suddenly changed her mind when she held you by your throat ready to knife you with her dagger?"

"The riddle to that I do not think I could ever solve" he smiled at her. "Let us both be thankful that she did or…"

They both knew the unsettling answer and they quietly kept the answer to themselves before Loki broke the silence, "I shall endeavor to find a place of honor for this most cherished of gifts in my room as it should not be seen here in Odin's quarters."

"Good thing you had the wisdom to declare your room to be sealed off, even to the thralls who tended it for you, or this present of mine would get noticed and even dull minds would wonder when it was placed with the others I've given you over the years and start to gossip as slaves tend to do when their masters are not present."

"While you're here" setting the orb on the table next to his platter of food Loki looked up at Amora with a mischievous twinkle developing in his eyes, "would you care to join me for dinner and then…well shall we see what develops afterwards?"

"I believe I would as I like what I see in your eye you roguish scoundrel" Amora grinned back at him as she rose up from his lap to stand at the tables corner.

Loki rose up from his chair, moved it over a few inches then went to fetch the nearest one to her and place it next to his chair. He held it while she sat down on it and pushed it somewhat closer to the table and his platter of food then sat back down on his own.

Loki picked up his knife and cut a goodly piece of flesh from the bird's breast and set it upon his platter then he tore it into smaller strips with the blade of the knife to make it easier for Amora to eat as she helped herself to some dark purple grapes and to Loki's goblet of wine as it was the only cup available.

"There is one thing I should warn you about" Amora said before she drank the wine.

"Warn, about what?" Loki quizzed her.

"My father has noticed that Odin has picked up some new habits and dropped some old ones in the time since the Dark Elves were defeated and he finds them puzzling as if Odin were someone different."

"What manner of 'habits' are we speaking of?" Loki pushed a fork full of the Gamoth bird's flesh into his mouth.

"Well to begin with Odin doesn't sit with his knees spread apart but together" Lady Amora popped a grape into her mouth as she glanced teasingly at Loki, "and he doesn't cup his chin with his right hand and rub his upper lip with his forefinger when he's deep in thought but chews on the left side of his mustache."

At that point Amora swiftly pulled a dagger out from where it was concealed under her cape and stuck its point under Loki's chin, "Anything happens to my father and whomever harms him will feel the full force of my wrath."

"My dear Amora" Loki spoke calmly, "why would I want to harm the only useful man in all of Asgard when a simple spell of forgetfulness would be all that's needed to insure my continued rule on the Golden Throne."

Gently Loki pushed the dagger away from his throat, "As he's going to be my future father-in-law why would I wish to incur your wrath by harming him?"

Amora was silent then she sheathed her dagger and reached for the wine cup again, "Just remember I love my father, as much as you loved Queen Frigga, and I will exact my revenge on anyone who harms him."

It was a good thing that his spell of concealment included sound as well as sight or Heimdall, as well as the whole palace, would have heard Amora's climatic screaming of his name as he made love to her in Odin's bed. The next time he visited the old warrior he would tell him of this tryst with Amora and how she had accepted his marriage proposal becoming the next Queen of Asgard. Panting from their exertions they lay in each other's embrace, legs intertwined as Loki kissed her forehead affectionately.

"Won't you get upset" Amora whispered a trifle breathless "if I should see some comely warrior or ardent and randy nobleman and decide to share a lover's delight with them while we are, well when we are married?"

She traced a whirl in his chest hair while he softly laughed as he took her hand and kissed it gently, "My dear all that is meaningless, all I require is that you remain faithful to only me until you have given me a son to sit the throne after me. Once my son is born you may have as many lovers as you wish and I promise that it won't upset me because after all, you always come back to Loki, always."

"How do you know that I would even consent to having a child? And what makes you so sure it would be a son…you conniving schemer you…I thought there was something in the wine I had in the library as it tasted a little too sweet!"

Loki gave her a wide toothy grin and laughed softly, "My heir to the throne is already on his way thanks to the red powder I put in your cup, and you should remember mother taught me all about herbal remedies and one of them being a treatment for infertility and another for the determination of the sex of the child."

Loki's left hand reached over to touch Amora's stomach and he gently caressed it as it would house the most precious thing in the entire realm to him for nine months and it pleased him immensely that the first born of his dynasty would be conceived in the hated Odin's bed. A fact he would not forget to rub in the old bastard's face the next time he went to absorb more of Odin's life force from him. Although while he and Amora did care for each other, she grew up as his foster sister, he seriously doubted that what they shared in this bond they had was in fact love, well the type of love that two lovers should have. If they were not lovers, then what could they be? Loki cradled her head in his hands and kissed her lips, then her chin as she tilted her head back as he caressed her throat with his lips while she moaned softly and then there came a pounding on his door and he could hear the voice of Balder. Loki sighed with disgust at this interruption and sat up in bed and with Odin's voice ordered Balder to wait as he looked regretfully at his Enchantress.

"Shield yourself with a spell of concealment while I hear what news Balder Odinson brings from Karnilla" Loki told her as he climbed out of bed and shifted back into Odin's form, fully clothed, and walked out the door of the bedroom then to the doors of Odin's chambers where he opened them to see Balder waiting.

"Yes my son" Loki/Odin spoke up, "what does Karnilla say of these raiders?"

"She says she knows nothing of these raiders and that it cannot be that her men are responsible for this barbarity for they fear all too greatly the consequences of disobedience to her" Balder reported to his sire. "She says she honors the treaty written with blood."

"And do you believe her my son?"

"Yes Allfather, otherwise I think I would not be here before you."

"Well done my son, you now have my leave to go" Loki/Odin clasped a hand of approval upon Balder's shoulder who crossed his arm over his heart, bowed and left his king to return to his worried wife Nanna. Loki/Odin was about to return to Amora when he heard the footfalls of many running feet as he turned to his left to see The Warriors Three approaching.

"My king, we bring news of the monster Mangog" Fandral wheezed as they stopped in front of the Allfather.

"Where is Thor?" Loki/Odin growled. "Why is he not here as well?"

"He has gone alone to try and stop this monster once and for all" Volstagg gasped for air, "and he said that if he cannot stop it we should evacuate the city and make for the northern mountains as the beast claims it will destroy all Asgard."

If this monster was unstoppable, if it should slay Thor…should lay waste to HIS Asgard…

"Begin to evacuate all the women and children and ready the Einherjar to defend the realm" Loki/Odin barked orders at all three of them, "and arm every able bodied man and strong lad as well. We stop this creature if Thor fails. Now go!"

Making fists and crossing their right arms over their chests the three companions of Thor turned and left their king to follow his orders. Loki returned to his chambers and shut the door as he hurried into his bedroom where Amora was already dressed and waiting for him to come back.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Amora questioned him with a growing anxiety filling her heart when she saw the expression on his Odin-form face.

"Thor has gone on alone to face this monster that calls itself Mangog, which slaughtered an entire company of Einherjar, and if he cannot destroy it I must evacuate the city and prepare to defend it from this beast." The green and gold light once again flashed over his body shifting him back to himself, "Take your father and flee to the Northern Mountains, King Enar of the mountain dwarves is an old ally of Odin's if you take enough gold the old miser will take good care of the both of you, especially if you dole it out wisely, but don't let the greedy bastard intimidate you for more. Demonstrate a taste of your magical prowess and he will behave himself, becoming a most gracious host and whatever you do, don't marry the hairy old troll."

Gently taking a hold of her head with his hands he kissed her passionately, and with some desperation for some minutes before releasing her, "Now go and go quickly, for no matter what happens here with me, you hold the most precious thing in Asgard's future within you so keep yourself safe."

"And as for you" Amora placed her right hand upon his cheek and caressed it with her thumb, "do not make me a widow before I am even a Queen."

Concealing herself with a spell she left him as he transformed back into Odin and walked out of Odin's chambers to head for the throne room.

After leaving Odin's presence he was walking back to his quarters to take his midmorning meal a thought came to the Vizier and he stopped and headed back to the hall of records. While he knew Amora would be childishly angry with him for it, but he had to see whether or not he was correct in his assumption. If he was, then it might lead to whomever was conducting these raids and why. A servant to the head librarian informed him that the King had taken his leave and they were replacing the books the King had ordered to be brought before him.

"Take me to the records of land acquisition that pertain to the western border lands."

"Yes my Lord High Councilor" the thrall bowed then led the way to the case and shelf where the record scrolls were kept.

"Would my Lord need anything else?" the thrall politely inquired.

"Only a small reading table and a pouch for any scrolls I wish to take to show to the King" The Vizier stated as he began to peruse through the titles on the scrolls

"Yes my Lord" the thrall bowed, and then turned away hurriedly with a brow that was sweating profusely.

The Vizier hardly noticed when the thrall returned with the small reading table and a leather pouch for the scrolls, as he had discovered something remarkable that would have to be shown to the King at once. So engrossed was he in putting scrolls into the pouch that he was not aware of the presence behind him until he heard a grunt and felt something strike his back. With a gasping gurgle he lost all strength in his legs and fell to the floor. The last thing he was aware of before losing consciousness was the sound of someone stuffing scrolls into the pouch.

When he overheard the evacuation order given by Odin to the Warrior's Three, Balder ran as he'd never had before to his and Nanna's quarters and even though Nanna was still upset about his going to Nornheim he yelled at her that this was no time for petty jealousies as he searched for and found the small pouches of gold he'd been saving. Placing the pouches into a traveler's carrying sack, along with a few loaves of bread and a sealed bottle of wine, he grabbed her wrist and with their only child, his son Forseti following, Balder led his family to the long ships.

Balder made only one stop and that was to the quarters of his blind identical twin brother Hodr, and gathering up what food and gold that Hodr had with him, Balder linked his left arm to Hodr's right and led his brother to the waiting long ships.

When he reached the long ships and had his family secured on one, he reached for Nanna and kissed her long and hard, like a man who knew he may never see her again. She wept, but this time in fear of being a widow for she had heard rumors concerning this beast and they terrified her.

"My son" Balder turned to the boy when he released the child's mother and placing his hands on the boy's shoulders somberly looked him in the eyes, "obey your mother, and your uncle Hodr, and do all things with honor."

Taking Nanna's and Hodr's right hands Balder joined the two together and to his brother he spoke, "Take care of my Nanna and should I fall, do your duty as a brother."

Hearing this Nanna began to wail in hopelessness as Balder released them and quickly exited the ship before he was crushed emotionally. The gang plank went up and he stood and watched his small family fly away to what he hoped would be safety. A palace guard ran up to him explaining that the Allfather had ordered his presence in the Golden Throne Room and when Balder could no longer see the long ship he turned and followed the guard.


End file.
